This research examines the health-related behaviors of community-residing older adults, both in reaction to symptom experience and also those of a preventive/health maintenance nature. It is designed to extend our present knowledge-base through: obtaining a more comprehensive picture than now exists of older adults' day-to-day symptom experiences and behavioral reactions; employing a broader range of health behaviors than have been used to date; and incorporating a wide scope of potential antecedent variables to investigate individual differences. A sample of 150-200 community resident older adults, aged 60 and over, will be recruited from the Southfield and Detroit, Michigan areas. These persons will have been participants in a prior medical and social needs assessment survey conducted by one of the investigators (MJ). At an initial in-home interview, background data will be obtained on preventive health behavior and health maintenance practices, and on demographic and psychosocial indices (e.g., morale, future outlook, family environment, functional health status). Participants then complete a health diary for recording symptom experience and health behavior response, over three, two-week periods, with a two-week break between diaries. After the last diary is returned, participants receive a final telephone interview, to obtain information on their preventive and health maintenance practices during the diary-keeping period. Analyses will focus on identification of antecedents of the symptom-related and preventive-health maintenance behaviors, and on the association between these two sets of behaviors. Results will contribute to the process of model-building for late life health behavior, to more exact further study of particular types of symptom experiences and health behaviors, and to the design of interventions to foster health promoting behaviors.